第2053期:Vatican Experts Restore Masterpieces

Alessandra Zarelli works to keep the artwork of the Vatican Museums in good condition. She says, whenever she works on a masterpiece, she must calm her heart so her thinking can center on her work. 

Alessandra Zarelli 致力于保持梵蒂冈博物馆艺术品的良好状态。她说，每当创作杰作时，她必须让自己的心平静下来，这样她的思想才能集中在作品上。 

Vatican City is a small country surrounded by the Italian capital, Rome. It is the headquarters and seat of government of the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican Museums contain thousands of artworks hundreds of years old including paintings by Michelangelo. 

梵蒂冈城是一个被意大利首都罗马包围的小国。它是罗马天主教会的总部和政府所在地。梵蒂冈博物馆藏有数千件具有数百年历史的艺术品，其中包括米开朗基罗的画作。 

"The emotion of working on something like a Michelangelo is truly indescribable," said Zarelli. She helped repair one of his wall paintings in Vatican City’s Pauline Chapel. 

“创作米开朗基罗这样的作品的情感确实难以形容，”扎雷利说。她帮助修复了他在梵蒂冈城宝琳教堂的一幅壁画。 

Michelangelo painted during the Renaissance period of European history during a growth of interest in science, art, and literature.

米开朗基罗在欧洲历史文艺复兴时期进行绘画，当时人们对科学、艺术和文学的兴趣不断增长。 

Zarelli is part of a special team at the Vatican Museums’ repair laboratory for paintings and wood pieces. 

扎雷利是梵蒂冈博物馆绘画和木制品修复实验室特别团队的一员。 

The team is responsible for looking after thousands of square meters of wall paintings, including the famous ceiling and walls of the Sistine Chapel. They also look after some 5,300 oil paintings and wooden statues. 

该团队负责照管数千平方米的壁画，包括西斯廷教堂著名的天花板和墙壁。他们还保管着约 5,300 幅油画和木制雕像。

The painting and wood lab is one of eight specialized groups in the museums. It permitted several news organizations, including Reuters, the chance to see its inner workings to mark its 100th anniversary. 

绘画和木材实验室是博物馆的八个专业小组之一。它允许包括路透社在内的多家新闻机构有机会了解其内部运作，以纪念其成立 100 周年。 

Care and repair methods change often and today’s workers often have to repair mistakes from care workers that came before them. They repair work from recent history to many centuries ago.

护理和维修方法经常发生变化，今天的工人经常必须修复前任护理人员的错误。他们修复从近代历史到许多世纪前的作品。 

Another problem, usually from the distant past, is that restorers were not technicians but artists in their own right. Francesca Persegati is chief restorer at the Vatican Museums. She said that some of those artists thought they could “improve” the original by adding their own work. 

另一个问题，通常来自遥远的过去，是修复者不是技术人员，而是本身的艺术家。Francesca Persegati 是梵蒂冈博物馆的首席修复师。她说，其中一些艺术家认为他们可以通过添加自己的作品来“改进”原作。

"It's important to be humble in this job, to respect the work but also to have a scientific background to understand the materials," she said. 

“在这份工作中保持谦虚、尊重工作很重要，但也要有科学背景来理解材料，”她说。 

Before a painting even reaches the lab, another team carries out tests to see if paint or color has been added since the piece was first made. They also check it for possible other work below the surface. 

在一幅画到达实验室之前，另一个团队会进行测试，看看自这件作品首次制作以来是否添加了油漆或颜色。他们还检查它是否有可能在地表以下进行其他工作。 

In another part of the lab, Caterina Manisco was working on an 1895 painting called Madonna and Child Between St. Teresa and St. Francis. Italian Emma Richards was the artist. She painted for the rich and powerful, like Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Such work was a rarity for women artists of the time. 

在实验室的另一部分，卡特琳娜·马尼斯科 (Caterina Manisco) 正在创作一幅 1895 年的画作，名为《圣特蕾莎与圣弗朗西斯之间的麦当娜与圣婴》。意大利人艾玛·理查兹是艺术家。她为维多利亚女王和阿尔伯特亲王等富人和有权势的人画画。这样的作品对于当时的女性艺术家来说是罕见的。 

"Because she was a woman, I somehow feel very close to her," said Manisco, an external restorer at the lab. 

“因为她是一名女性，所以我感觉和她很亲近，”实验室的外部修复师马尼斯科说。 

To mark the 100th anniversary of the paintings and wood lab, the Vatican Museums are using special technology. It permits visitors to use their phones to connect with information about the artwork they are looking at. 

为了纪念绘画和木材实验室诞生 100 周年，梵蒂冈博物馆正在使用特殊技术。它允许参观者使用手机连接有关他们正在观看的艺术品的信息。